Superfund Sites in Reuse in Oklahoma
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Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery
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Mosley Road Sanitary Landfill
Mosley Road Sanitary LandfillThe 72-acre Mosley Road Sanitary Landfill (MRSL) Superfund site is located near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The site has operated as a landfill for municipal, industrial and hazardous waste materials since 1971. Over six months, operators put about 1.7 million gallons of mainly liquid hazardous waste materials into unlined pits at the landfill. In 1984, Waste Management of Oklahoma (WMO) acquired the site. After reaching capacity, WMO closed the landfill in 1987. EPA conducted testing at the site and found contaminated groundwater. EPA added the site to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1990. WMO completed cleanup activities, which included repairing the landfill cap, adding a soil cover and installing a landfill gas management system. WMO also monitors groundwater. EPA deleted the MRSL site from the NPL in 2013. Working closely with EPA and Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), WMO implemented the first commercial facility for a renewable biogas and natural gas joint venture project. Working with three joint venture companies, WMO is building a new gas-to-liquid fuel technology demonstration project on site. The technology converts methane gas from the site into clean-burning diesel fuel and wax. The venture will continue the development of renewable energy projects using this innovative technology in the U.S. and abroad. Construction of the first full-scale commercial facility is underway on site. In 2014, EPA Region 6 recognized WMO with a “Greenovations Award.” This award acknowledges WMO’s successful efforts that allowed an innovative gas-to-liquid fuel technology to become a reality.
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Sand Springs Petrochemical Complex
The Sand Springs Petrochemical Superfund site is located in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. The 235-acre site is in an industrial complex on the northern bank of the Arkansas River. Beginning in the 1900s, various industries operated on the site, including oil refineries. In 1984, EPA ordered the emergency removal of contained drums and tanks from a 5.5-acre portion of the site. In 1986, EPA added the site to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL) to address soil and groundwater contamination and related wastes. In 1995, potentially responsible parties dug up, stabilized and disposed of petroleum waste material in an on-site landfill. EPA deleted the site from the NPL in 2000. Between 2004 and 2006, parties dug up and removed sludge material along the banks of the Arkansas River. Operation and maintenance activities at the site continue. A rail company and the City of Sand Springs plan to reuse about 5 acres of the site as a rail facility. The rail facility will include an area for transferring, storing and loading shipments. Numerous companies, including Charger Paint, Direct Fire and Baker Petrolite, continue to operate on the site.
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Tar Creek (Ottawa County)
The Tar Creek (Ottawa County) Superfund site spans about 12,600 acres in the Tri-State Mining District of northeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas, and southwestern Missouri. Mining waste piles are located on more than 1,444 acres of the site. EPA added the site to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. Cleanup actions address surface and groundwater contamination. Cleanup workers built structures to keep runoff from entering mine systems, plugged mine wells and monitor groundwater. In addition, workers cleaned residential yards, wells and public areas and removed abandoned mining chemicals and source materials on the site. As of April 2015, workers remediated over 2,800 properties under Operable Unit 2. The cleanup also addresses residential relocation and sale of chat (a mining waste). EPA does not own any chat and will not purchase any chat. However, it is assisting chat sale participants, including the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma and local chat processors, as part of the site’s Superfund remedy. EPA used funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act awarded in 2009 to fund buyouts and relocations for the towns of Picher, Cardin and Hockerville, Oklahoma, and Treece, Kansas. The buyout and demolition activities are completed. In 2013, the Quapaw Tribe became the first tribe to manage the cleanup of a Superfund site when it initiated the cleanup of the Catholic 40 portion of the site. Residential, commercial and public uses continue on several cleaned up properties. Reuses for properties currently undergoing cleanup are typically agricultural or rural. To date, workers remediated 2,887 properties under OU2.
For more information:
- Redevelopment of the Tar Creek (Ottawa County) Superfund Site (PDF) (1 pg, 673 K, About PDF)
- Tribal Leadership, Historic Preservation and Green Remediation: The Catholic 40 Cleanup Project in Northeast Oklahoma (PDF)(12 pp, 5.7 MB)
- Superfund Site Profile Page
Tinker Air Force Base (Soldier Creek/Building 3001)
Prior to 1941, the area now home to Tinker Air Force Base included undeveloped pasture and prairie lands. Beginning in 1941, Oklahoma City donated 960 acres of land to the Army Air Corps for the construction of the Midwest Air Depot. Renamed Tinker Field in 1942 and subsequently Tinker Air Force Base in 1948, EPA listed the base as a Superfund site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1987 because of contaminated ground water, sediment, soil and surface water. The site covers about 5,000 acres and contains around 500 buildings. The focus of site investigation and cleanup efforts have included Building 3001, Pit Q-51 the North Tank Area, Soldier Creek as well as other areas. Site cleanup efforts began in the mid-1980s. Some cleanup actions continue, including the treatment of contaminated ground water in the Building 3001 area. The U.S. Air Force continues to use the site for U.S. Air Force command operations. Military and civilian personnel use Building 3001 for maintenance on aircraft, engines, components and accessories as well as administrative duties.
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